Additional niches and architecture added in the Tang dynasty to the Vairocana niche in the Fengxian Temple at Longmen
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Abstract
The niche with the colossal statue of Vairocana Buddha in the Fengxian Temple in Longmen was carved in the second year of the Shangyuan reign period of the Tang dynasty. At the beginning of the Kaiyuan reign, additional niches were carved into the same cliff wall. Based on spatial analysis of the surviving holes for architectural structures and their relation to the niches added later, it is inferred that the architecture in front of the niche was not built after the construction of these later niches. These two construction events could have belonged to the same construction phase. The construction of the architecture in front of the Vairocana niche completely altered the outer appearance and visibility of the statues, which then resulted in the relocation of worship activities from the open area to an enclosed space created by the wooden-structured temple in front of the niche.
Postscript
The original article 龙门奉先寺大卢舍那像龛唐代的补凿与加建 was published in Kaogu 考古 (Archaeology) 2020.2:112–120 with 19 illustrations and 15 notes. The abbreviated English version, translated by Xin Chen 陈莘, has removed the notes and added further readings.
Further Readings
Li, Chongfeng 李崇峰. 2013. 龙门石窟唐代窟龛分期试论 (A preliminary study on the periodization of the Tang dynasty caves and niches in Longmen Grottoes). In Shikusi yanjiu 石窟寺研究 (Studies of the cave temples). Vol. 4. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe.Search in Google Scholar
Mizuno, Seiichi 水野清一, and Toshio Nagahiro 長廣敏雄. 1941. Ryūmon Sekkutsu no kenkyū 龍門石窟の研究 (A Study of the Buddhist cave-temples at Longmen). Kyoto: Zauho Kankokai.Search in Google Scholar
© 2022 Walter De Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Excavation of a Neolithic site at Jingtoushan in Yuyao, Zhejiang
- The Neolithic Shuanghuaishu site in Gongyi, Henan
- The Shang dynasty remains at the Guoyuanzui site in Lutai Mountain, Huangpi District, Wuhan
- The Western Zhou Yaoheyuan site in Pengyang County, Ningxia
- Tang remains from the Keyak Khduk Beacon site in Yuli County, Xinjiang
- The excavation of the 2018 Xuewei tomb No. 1 in Reshui cemetery, Dulan County, Qinghai
- Reports
- The 2016–2017 excavation of the bronze foundry zone at the Guanzhuang site, Xingyang, Henan
- The excavation of tomb M12 at Hujiacaochang cemetery in Jingzhou, Hubei
- The excavation of Liao dynasty tomb of Han Derang in Beizhen, Liaoning
- Research
- Research on prehistoric 凸-shaped house remains on the Loess Plateau
- The rise and fall of the Liangzhu society in the perspective of subsistence economy
- Boot-shaped antler artifacts and prehistoric leather production
- Archaeological culture, document texts, and the construction of early Wu Yue history
- Portable lodge from the fifth century BCE: a study of the tent of the Marquis Yi of Zeng
- Additional niches and architecture added in the Tang dynasty to the Vairocana niche in the Fengxian Temple at Longmen
- Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of human and animal skeletal remains unearthed at Zengpiyan and Dayan sites in Guilin
